Autism Transplant Denial Sparks Debate

"Our criteria for listing an individual for transplant are regularly reviewed in comparison with national standards, but we always encourage patients to seek another opinion," the statement concludes.

Patients who are denied can seek evaluation for the national waiting list at another transplant center in the hopes that the new center has a different criterion for choosing transplant candidates. Once the patient is on the national list, the United Network for Organ Sharing, a non profit contracted by the federal government matches donor organs to recipients.

As of 7:54 a.m. this morning, there were 114,852 people on the national list, according to the UNOS website. From January to May of this year, 11,468 transplants were performed, it said.

For now, Corby is accepting signatures on her Change.org petition and has mailed Paul's records to the Mayo Clinic for review. She also plans to send his records to the University of Pittsburgh's hospital.

"We don't want to get too hopeful, but it's better than where we were before," she said.